A blockade by Avalon residents and environmentalists has won a temporary reprieve for two Flooded Gums on Avalon’s Ruskin Rowe this week, flagged for removal by council staff.
However, two other 70-year-old trees of the same species, Eucalyptus Grandis, forming part of an avenue of trees on the street, fell to the chainsaw on Wednesday.
Pittwater Greens Councillor Miranda Korzy said a blockade of residents and cars surrounding the remaining trees had prevented tree cutters from carrying out the directive from staff to remove the eucalypts.
“The determination of the community to save these magnificent trees has achieved a a stay of execution for two of them,” Ms Korzy said.
“They are part of an avenue on Ruskin Rowe, rooted in public land within a Heritage Conservation Area.
“I also have advice from a highly trained local arborist (Level 8 AQF with an environmental law degree) who believes that they are not a high risk, but need pruning to remove any branches compromised by decay and inspections from time to time.
“A car parked beneath a limb that fell, crushing it, has unsurprisingly caused distress, however, the trees are many metres away from any homes and one is within a large cul-de-sac at the end of the road.
“As trees age, they tend to drop more branches and so those inspections and pruning need to be carried out more frequently.
“However, council staff believe it will be too expensive to support the ongoing management of these trees - and that they are a high risk to the community.
“Given, though, that the council received its original arborist’s report with this conclusion in April and the trees haven’t been cordoned off, it begs the question, is the risk so serious?”
Ms Korzy said a number of residents had complained to her that they’d heard the four trees would be removed and so she had asked a number of questions of staff and for a meeting between the arborist volunteering his time and staff.
On Tuesday morning, a Ruskin Rowe resident had contacted her to say the tree cutting contractors had letterboxed them to announce they would remove the Flooded Gums between Wednesday and Friday.
Ms Korzy said the meeting was then finally arranged for 7.30pm on Tuesday, after staff had confirmed the crane would arrive at 7am the next morning.
At the meeting, the volunteer arborist had argued for the preservation of all four trees, but finally agreed that: the two earmarked at the northern end of Ruskin Rowe were in a greater state of decline; they would therefore need more maintenance creating a higher cost to council; and their removal, given the equipment was arriving in the morning, was therefore better justified.
Meanwhile, staff agreed to his suggestion for an urgent review of the original arborist’s report on the other two trees.
By 7am the following morning, members of Canopy Keepers, Northern Beaches Greens, and the Avalon Preservation Association, joined by Ruskin Rowe neighbours, were on site to ensure the trees under review remained safe.
Over the next three days, the number of those keeping vigil swelled to about 50, with Pittwater Natural Heritage Association veterans arriving and residents from Avalon and further afield as well.
Many came and went in between work and appointments, but three young blockaders cancelled work with clients losing three days pay, and on Friday, a neighbour who teaches at a local school was excused by his principal for the day.
Despite tree cutters felling the two Flooded Gums at the northern end of the street on Wednesday, those rallying remained optimistic about the review’s outcome.
However, Ms Korzy said the bad news arrived on Thursday afternoon in a phone call from NBC CEO Scott Phillips, soon followed by a visit to the Ruskin Rowe site from senior council staff to inform the crowd.
“Whilst I have a lot of respect for council staff, who I understand are doing their best to protect the community, I strongly opposed the message that the review had concluded ‘council would not be able to manage the trees and they should be removed,” she said.
“Although the review did not carry out its own risk assessment, we were told that it confirmed the high risk of the two Flooded Gums, and that council’s budget would not allow for the frequent pruning they would need.
“Those rallying to safeguard the trees expressed their views in a forthright manner and determined that they would maintain the blockade for as long as was needed.
“These trees, though not endemic, are emblematic of the plight of our canopy across Pittwater, where residents choose to live because of its precious environment.
“Residents are frustrated they’ve been able to do little to prevent the wholescale loss of more than 30,000 trees - amounting to the size of a forest - across the LGA since the council amalgamation in 2016.
“Yet council research shows the number one priority of residents across the Northern Beaches is not roads, rates or rubbish but the environment - and we should be spending the money to ensure we manage it in a sustainable way.
"I do not want to place anyone in the community in danger; rather this is about properly identifying levels of risk and the council budgeting adequately for tree management."
One neighbour to join the blockade on Wednesday, Arabella Lockhart, was particularly distressed by the trees’ plight.
“I was quite aware that birds nested in the tree opposite my kitchen window that I used to see every morning with my coffee and breakfast,” Ms Lockhart told Pittwater Online News.
“As I stood watching that tree being chopped to the ground, I noticed two nests with eggs, which smashed and broke in the road.
“I could no longer bear watching what was happening and had to get in my car and leave.”
Ms Lockhart said the reason she and her family had moved into the street 18 years ago was because of its trees and wildlife.
She had seen a large range of fauna in the trees, including Sugar Gliders, bats and hundreds of species of birds, such as Powerful Owls.
“It truly is quite unique,” she said.
“Many many people come here to walk their dogs each day, and on weekends Ruskin Rowe gets quite busy with people, including tourists, admiring the big beautiful gums.
“A couple who were some of the original residents of the street and lived in our house, in their 80s and 90s, every afternoon dressed up in smart clothes, and with a wine in hand, would walk down the street, admiring the majestic trees.”
Tree defence group Canopy Keepers also deplored the carnage, saying council’s approach was “absolutely not good enough”.
“For four years Canopy Keepers has as a community group been talking up trees and the importance of canopy to provide us with shade, protection from wind storms, and wildlife habitat,” their spokesperson Deb Collins told Pittwater Online News.
“We stand on the shoulders of many people who came before us wanting to protect this very special place called Pittwater.
“Last week we witnessed the Council management approve the felling of Flooded Gums in Ruskin Rowe: four beautiful large street trees.
“While the argument continues about the level of danger posed by limbs falling, with the now two arborists we consulted disagreeing with Council’s arborists, we want to focus on a shift that we see occurring.
“This week a wide range of locals, young and old, from environment groups, from Ruskin Rowe, and from we don’t know where, left work and their warm dry homes to stand in front of a magnificent tree towering over the end of Ruskin Rowe; a significant tree in a conservation zone. Nowhere near a house, a playground, a carpark!
“So it is that the Great Ruskin Row blockade came about, forcing Council and the loggers to stop work.
“The blockaders are determined to continue until Council answers questions posed by our fabulous young members of this newly formed group.
“As Canopy Keepers, we have always sought to partner with council to understand and influence policy, to support in any ways we can, to educate our community.
“We thought we shared a vision to increase canopy, protect habitat trees and prioritize the preservation of our rich and unique biodiversity.
“We do understand and appreciate that this is a complex arena with multiple stakeholders, needs and risks.
“However, last week Canopy Keepers became an opposing force to Council.
“No-one, not even the Councillors, the residents, or anyone from Pittwater’s many environment groups was consulted, or was helped to understand what was going on and why.
“This action stemmed from one arborist’s report, that we believe was unreliable. A report we found flaws in. Council did not provide funds for a project ecologist to assess the trees for wildlife and hollows. And Council is selling the timber.
“Yet Council staff onsite told us we cannot afford to maintain these trees. But clearly they can afford to cut them down!
“You cannot pen a Tree Canopy Plan, and with one hand months after it is ratified, dispose of a community canopy trees that could be managed wisely.
“The community is serious that NBC must stop this Ruskin felling, come to the table and show us that the vision we thought we shared has some serious intent because right now our trust and belief that preservation and regeneration of our environment is a core concern has been sorely tested and has failed.
“If the fear mongering and the yellow dotted trees along Ruskin Rowe are on point - this is the beginning of changing, forever, this quite incredible treescape. On our watch.”
NBC's Canopy Plan was ratified in September however, work still remains to be done on it to protect existing canopy.
Northern Beaches Greens convenor Evan Turner, one of the young people Ms Collins mentioned as asking questions of council staff, said that the protestors planned to blockade the trees until NBC met their demands.
When staff visited the site on Thursday, he told them these were to:
- Explain council’s failure to take feedback from the local expert arborist (AQF level 8) who had assessed the two remaining trees as manageable and, at worst, note even as high as moderate risk.
- Explain why no community consultation had occurred as to the future of all four trees.
- For the largest tree - in the cul-de-sac - to not be fully cut down and its stag be maintained as habitat.
- That a project ecologist be present to assess if native species are present in the trees' hollows or branches and how to safely relocate them if so.
- Explain their plans, if any, for replacement with endemic trees and artificial habitat.
“These are very reasonable demands, which still allow council to proceed with removing the trees even though there is expert arboriculture advice suggesting flaws in council’s stance and clear community concern with the way council has dealt with the issue,” Mr Turner said.
Another neighbour, Paul Johnson, who on Tuesday alerted Ms Korzy to Wednesday’s planned felling, has begun writing updates for the Avalon What’s On Facebook group.
He has excoriated the council for its actions in destroying two of the trees and is determined to fight to the bitter end to retain the remaining ones. On Saturday he wrote:
“On Thursday a week ago, the residents of Ruskin Rowe received a notice from a team of contractors, Plateau Trees, that they intended to remove four mature gum trees from the street. Their work would take place between Wednesday and Friday of the following week. The purpose of the notice was chiefly to inform us of the possible interruption to traffic.
“These four beautiful flooded-gums were planted around 70 years ago when the original subdivision was created. In the six months leading up to this moment, a few branches had dropped and one or two residents had complained.
“Council’s arborists recommended their removal while two independent arborists have stated that with appropriate management these currently healthy trees can stay.
“Two of the four trees were removed on Wednesday before any action could be taken. The remaining two still stand due to the urgent intervention of Councillor Korzy insisting Council consider further options. One of these sits grandly in the middle of the open space within the cul-de-sac, and they both contribute significantly to the environment on so many levels. Not least of these is the maintenance of the canopy to provide a contiguous green corridor. The stumps of the two removed trees reveal no ill health at all.
“Our vigil started on Wednesday and continues with over 50 members of the local community willing to give up their time to deter the contractors and let Council know that they cannot undertake such environmental destruction without due process.
“A six day notice given to residents by the contractors is not community consultation. Council appears unwilling to consider the responsible option of a tree management program on the grounds that it will ‘cost too much’. It’s a disgrace how such lethal decisions can be made purely on the grounds of finance over the long-term interests of the environment.
“Council wants to remove these trees after (8) years of neglect, when a tree management plan would probably have prevented any dropped branches at all. We choose to live in the environment of these forest trees but somehow we expect the trees to adapt to our lifestyle. No. To live amongst the trees, we must adapt to their needs. At its most simple, this involves our responsible management of the natural environment.
“We are asking Council to manage our tree assets more responsibly and effectively for the environment by not simply resorting to their execution. These trees are healthy. We argue this for the trees in Ruskin Rowe and for all trees throughout the entire LGA. We are asking Council for a more consultative approach to any important environmental matter and to not just resort to the bulldozer tactics we witnessed this week.
“These two remaining beautiful, healthy trees will stay and will become an emblem of the turning point in Council’s successful tree management program throughout the Northern Beaches.
“This is what we stand for!”
Image: Ruskin Rowe tree vigil on Thursday June 13. Image supplied
David Palmer on Tree stump of one of the trees destroyed by Northern Beaches Council
Tree stump of the Ruskin Rowe tree destroyed by Northern Beaches Council
Logs from the trees already destroyed
Work has officially begun on the construction of the Warriewood Community Centre with the first soil being turned on Wednesday 29 May 2024.
The Warriewood Community Centre has long been anticipated by Pittwater residents, since its inclusion in the Warriewood Valley Master Plan of 1998. Pittwater Council circulated architectural plans for the centre in 2010. It, and later the amalgamated Northern Beaches Council, raised funds for the centre through developer contributions - previously known as Section 94 contributions, now Section 7.12. These contributions are levied to fund infrastructure in new developments.
The Warriewood Valley Development Contributions Plan of 2022 noted that a community meeting place is essential for community development. However, it continues, in Warriewood Valley:
“Existing facilities are at capacity, evidenced by the requests for provision of additional activities and services from community groups that cannot be accommodated in existing facilities. It is apparent, through previous research, that there is no capacity in the existing community facilities to cater for the demand likely to arise from expected population growth over the next 10 years. As a consequence, it will be necessary to provide additional floor space to ensure appropriate levels of service to the incoming population.”
With the Nelson Heather Centre (on the corner of Jacksons and Pittwater Roads), sinking into the old tip site on which it was built, the council planned to demolish it and construct the new community centre at the same location.
Excavation to remove loose fill will need to be undertaken and foundation piles used to support it (See Geotechnical Investigation for the Proposed Community Centre).
The population of Warriewood reached 8,425 people in 2022, and Mona Vale 11,019. As a District Centre on the B-line bus route, the Nelson Heather Centre also attracted users from outside the Warriewood Valley and Mona Vale.
- five multi-purpose halls suited to a wide range of recreational activities
- two multi-purpose meeting rooms
- an entry lobby with seating and kitchenette facilities
- covered outdoor spaces which overlook landscaped gardens
- modern and accessible amenities
- multiple kitchen facilities
- 78 car parking spaces, 5 of which are accessible plus a mini-bus drop off
Pittwater Online News is Published Every Sunday Morning
